Man Out Of Time

To win his 18th Grand Slam, Roger Federer defied age, expectations and his own nerves.

- Sean Gregory

IN MORE THAN 20 YEARS ON THE PRO tennis tour, Andre Agassi won eight Grand Slam titles, more than $30 million in prize money and a spot as the top-ranked player in the world. Yet as he watched the men’s final of the Australian Open on Jan. 29 from his home in Las Vegas, the former superstar couldn’t help but feel somehow flawed. There was 35-year-old Roger Federer, ancient in tennis years and just back from a six-month layoff following a knee injury, battling back from a fifth-set deficit against his longtime rival Rafael Nadal, five years younger and the winner of six of their eight previous Grand Slam final duels.

That Federer could dig so deep without losing the spirit of grace and generosity he has carried for much of his career— amazingly, it didn’t sound insincere when he told the crowd in Melbourne that he would’ve been happy if Nadal had won— was enough to make Agassi introspective. He fired off a text to a friend, fellow American ex-pro James Blake. Watching Federer, Agassi wrote, “makes me feel like I was much more of a broken person than I even realized.”

Federer’s balletic performances on the court and equanimity off it have a way of inspiring admiration. No other man has as many Grand Slams as Federer’s 18, and the incredibly deep talent pool of the current men’s tour has much to do with a generation of players chasing his excellence. Even without this unlikely win he was widely regarded as the greatest men’s tennis player of all time—with fellow 2017 Australian Open champion Serena Williams making the same case on the women’s side of the draw.